PHP programmers, what's in your toolbox?
 

Even though I'm a pretty hardcore PHP programmer I rarely "socialize" with other programmers. The times I do, I usually learn some good tricks. So, share some tools, classes and scripts that you use frequently.

Here are mine:

1. ADODB (http://adodb.sourceforge.net) - database abstraction lawyer with result cashing and a bunch of other good things.

2. Smarty (http://smarty.php.net) - template engine with built-in page caching.

3. Snoopy (http://snoopy.sourceforge.net) - web client class. Useful for fetching other pages.

4. JP Cache (http://www.jpcache.com) - full page caching class

5. NuSOAP (http://dietrich.ganx4.com/nusoap/index.php) - SOAP engine for data exchange and RPC calls

A hammer.

Total PHP

DB5 PHP

Crstophp

Google didn't return any info of any of these. Can you provide links or at least descriptions of what they do?

Awesome thread!

How do you find AdoDB? I'm currently working for a network that uses it, but I don't see why it's useful.

Not like one would be switching to some other DB in your day-to-day projects, and the thing is pretty big (100kb+).
How fast does it execute and can it handle very high traffic in the same way as simple mysql functions that are built into PHP?

ADODB is just a wrapper and uses standard MySQL functions for interaction with MySQL database. The 100 kb size is confusing since it encompasses a variety of database interfaces, which aren't used with the exception of the interface for your particular database.

It's probably a bit slower than direct MySQL calls due to the extra code yet it makes up big time in simplicity and result set caching. Any result set that doesn't get modified often I store in cache (propriatary flat-file system of ADODB) and thus save the time it takes to run that particular query agaist the MySQL engine. It does wonders on heavy queries.

Further, ADODB has had multipe query per call structure for years which only recently got implemented in MySQL directly.

Kate and a browser that's all I need :thumbsup

And if I need anything else, I will find it or write it.:glugglug

Those mentioned above, plus Zend performance suite...

Cool, thanks for the explanation! :)

I personally use

Smarty
ACL (in house class library, hit me up if you wanna check it out, it's GPL)

and ultraedit

i don't like precanned code much.

yep Ultraedit all the way. Fuck IDEs.

Also (neither of these are APIs or strictly coding tools) I use phpMyAdmin and phpAdsNew all the time. Aside from that I mostly use classes and functions that I've written over the years and find that I can reuse constantly for great efficiency in cranking out new projects.

Snoopy looks bad-ass! Thanks for the link!

i use

php.net the manual on it

google.com

pico on my dedicated server to code.

devshed.com forums
phpbuilder.com forums

thats it

here's my little contribution:

http://www.phpfreaks.com

and I like to code with homesite still.

But I love to learn more tips and tricks.

Your ICQ number would be helpful... :Graucho

My tool is VIM. Love the color syntax. phpbuilder for the rest.

I'm surprised nobodys mentioned phppatterns.com yet .. It's the best resource for some PHP object oriented hacking!

For my developing i use Nusphere PhpEd, which is a kickass IDE. Removes the need for any other applications while programming - except of course - your favorite browser!

vi or bbedit

jpgraph for graphing

Notepad. :) I am wondering about people's fascination with "advanced notepad" programs though. I'll get one too if I stumble across something that looks useful.

And with the exception of a textfile containing some longer functions and regular expressions I often use, that's all.

Why use third party code, and for that task even? Sending a custom HTTP header and doing something with the output is 10 lines plus minus any way.

Those are 10 lines you don't have to write. Also look at all the features, it's not limited to just getting contents of a web page. It has nice facilities for form submissions, redirect following, frame browsing, etc.

Holy Shit! I actually just bookmarked a thread from GFY!!! Thanks dnsmonster - I'm always looking for more stuff to stick in my toolbox. :thumbsup

Just send this thread to a ASP programmer that wants to learn PHP . Hopefully he will like it

AnyEdit, and note pad.

http://www.phpclasses.org - this site has a good collection of classes for a variety of tasks. The navigation there sucks but it's usually worth the digging.

I know most hate graphical style PHP editors, one that I've tried out that I do like is DzSoft's PHP Editor: http://www.dzsoft.com/dzphp.htm

There are dozens of features that "advanced notepads" have:
syntax highlighting comes in handy... ability to create "projects" rather than 10 independent files... advanced search and replace... etc...

... and you don't even see line numbers in notepad... (!!!)

No, and that's honestly the only thing that bothers me about it. Syntax highlighting is not necessary if you write clean and formatted code.

I'll give UltraEdit a try though.

PEAR anyone? I don't use it myself as IMO it's overkill usually - so just wondering if anybody out there is using it?

IMO Smarty and ADODB are just another layer slowing you down however I did roll my own lightweight db abstraction class for convenience for when we move from MySQL to Oracle... :)

although not strictly PHP, installing an opcode cache (eg Turck/MMCache) has gotta be a no-brainer ...

cheers
rich

Hi,

outside-built stuff, we only use Smarty.

ADODb I would never use, its a HUGE chunk of code, totally not needed if you know what you are doing. Caching the way they do it also sounds weird, learn how to setup mysql and your tables! Why friggin cache ON DISK?!

Also, the benchmarks show for themself that ADODb slows down your system, thus, unless you HAVE to support a ton of other databases, why use it?

I have not seen snoopy yet, but when do you ever need frame browsing or similar stuff? Learn how to use cURL, it will be a LOT faster.

If I may ask, what do you use for templates?

www.crimsoneditor.com

a great editor
one of the best features is, with the { } or with ( ) tags, if you put the cursor beside one of them, it will match it up with the other end. Good for finding the end of statements ect.

:thumbsup

edit plus
scriptlance

gvim, firefox, mysql, postgres, books, books, books, books, google

I have to use Smarty on my current project but it bugs me to use the extra layer when php can do it pretty well itself.

Normally I'd just separate the content from the hardcore code and use plain PHP tags in the content includes ... most designers I've worked with have no problems seeing <?= $whatever ?> instead of }$whatever} (1st brace reversed) or simple loop/logic structures in their layout...

rich

Coworker at work licensed us Slick Edit ( http://www.slickedit.com/products/pr..._slickedit.php )

and i'll never be able to use another program, ever.

Aside from that, if you need a quick installer of Apache, PHP, mySQL and a plethora of other modules, check out http://www.apachetoolbox.com/

1. Notepad
2. Dreamweaver
3. SmartFTP

i try to keep it simple :winkwink: